Relationship between atmospheric temperature and heatstroke by the emergency transportation record (Temperature and heatstroke)

Abstract

We studied relationship between the raise of atmospheric temperature and the incidence of heatstroke by means of the number of cases transported by ambulance in Tokyo. The subjects of this study were determined from the database of emergency transportation record of the Tokyo Fire Department, and there were 130, 560 transported cases including 386 heatstroke cases in July and August in 1993 and 1994. A significant positive correlation was found between maximum or average daily temperature and the daily number of heatstroke cases above a certain temperature, and slightly significant positive correlation was also found between the temperature and the number of all causes. The daily average number of transported cases by 1°C intervals showed that the heatstroke cases increased exponentially with average temperature above 24°C or with maximum temperature above 27°C.